wrapped in linen, and carried to the grave by two persons, one holding the
head, and the other the feet; the priest then censed the body, and whilst
it was being deposited in the grave, offered up prayers and benedictions.
At the obsequies of persons of distinction, hymns were sung by the
attendant priests, who accompanied the body in procession. At this period
the body of a deceased person was always watched by the relatives and
friends from the moment of death to the time of burial; the "wake" of the
present day being the survival of this custom.
It was a common practice, when the body was embalmed, to take out the
heart and bowels, and inter them in a different church to that in which
the body was buried; testators sometimes made a request in their wills for
this to be done. The custom appears to have prevailed from the twelfth to
the eighteenth century. The heart of Richard the First was buried at
Rouen, his bowels at Chaluz, and his body at Fontevand. In 1838, the
King's heart was discovered under the pavement of the sanctuary in Rouen
Cathedral, enclosed in a leaden case, with the inscription:--
Richard Coeur de Lion.
Duc de Normandie. Roi D'Angleterre.
Coeval with the introduction of church bells has been the appropriation of
one of them to the service of the dying; originally this bell was tolled
when one was yielding up life in order that all who heard it might offer
up prayer for the departing spirit, and after death another bell was rung,
called the "soul bell." The "Passing Bell," as it is now most
inappropriately called, is not rung until some hours after death, and
corresponds more nearly to the original "soul bell." In some districts it
is always rung exactly twenty-four hours after death, the tenor bell being
used for an adult, and the treble for a child; the big bell is generally
reserved for funerals. In rural districts after the "passing bell" has
tolled, the sex of the deceased is indicated most generally by tolling
twice for a woman and thrice for a man, to this is often added the age by
giving one toll for each year.
In the middle ages it was customary at the funeral of any great person to
have his horse led, and armour borne, before his corpse, the horse being
afterwards claimed as a mortuary due to the church at which the burial
took place; the armour was either reserved for the next of kin of the
deceased, or else was hung up in the church. No doubt much of the armour
suspended over tombs is mere "undertaker's trappings," although often
considered genuine and of antiquity.
Over the tombs of bishops, the Episcopal mitre and pastoral staff was
sometimes suspended, as in the case of those in Winchester Cathedral
hanging over the tomb of Bishop Morley, who died in 1696; and of those in
Bromsgrove Church, Worcestershire, suspended over the Monument of Dr.
Hall, Bishop of Bristol, who died in 1710.
The hearse, so often mentioned in wills and funeral directions, was not a
carriage for the conveyance of the body like that in use at the present
day, but was a four square framework of timber, from each corner of which
rose a rafter slanting, and all four rafters met at the top; this was
covered with black cloth, and at the funerals of persons of distinction
was set up for a time in the choir, for the reception of the body during
the service; it was surrounded with rails, and fringed and ornamented
according to the rank of the deceased. Until the Reformation, hearses were
garnished with numerous lights as well as with pencils and escocheons, but
with the change of faith the lights were discontinued. These hearses were
introduced about the fourteenth century, and they continued to be used
until the civil wars of the seventeenth century.
In Shropshire there is a custom of "ringing the dead home," viz.: chiming
all the bells, instead of ringing only one, while the funeral is on its
way to the church. When the procession nears the churchyard gate the
chiming is stopped and a minute bell is tolled. The sexton's fees at Much
Wenlock, as laid down in 1789, include "a chime if required before the
funeral, 0 1 0." At Hatherleigh, a small town in Devonshire, it was the
prevalent custom to ring a lively peal on the church bells after a
funeral, as elsewhere after a wedding.
Even in the present day, in some remote rural districts, and especially in
Hampshire, the practice still prevails of leaving open the outer door of
the house, through which the corpse has been carried, until the mourners
return from church, and in some places the custom extends also to the
windows; this arises from a superstition that if the doors or windows be
shut there will certainly be another death in the house within a year. In
some districts there is a belief that if, when the moment of death
approaches, all the doors and windows of the house are opened, the spirit
will leave the body more easily.
It was an ancient practice to put an hour glass into the coffin before
burial, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out. Some antiquaries
are of opinion that little hour glasses were anciently given at funerals,
like rosemary, and by the friends of the deceased either put into the
coffin or thrown into the grave.
The custom which still prevails of sewing up a corpse in flannel,
originated, doubtless, in the Act of Parliament, 18 and 19, Charles II.,
which was passed for the encouragement of the woollen trade, and required
all bodies to be buried in woollen shrouds; two amending statutes were
passed, 1678 and 1680, requiring at the funeral an affidavit to be
delivered to the priest stating that the requirements of the law had been
carried out; otherwise penalties were incurred. These acts were repealed
by 54 George III., although long before that time the penalties for
noncompliance with the law had ceased to be enforced. During the operation
of the acts for burying in woollen, the law was sometimes evaded by
covering the corpse with hay, or flowers, notification of which is
sometimes met with in the parish registers.
Burial in armour was not at all uncommon in the middle ages, and was
considered a most honourable form of burial. Sir Walter Scott, in "The Lay
of the last Minstrel," thus refers, to it:
"Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,
Where Roslin's Chiefs uncoffin'd lie,
Each Baron for a sable shroud
Sheathed in his iron panoply."
Clement Spelman, of Narburgh, Recorder of Nottingham, who died in 1679, is
immured upright, enclosed in a pillar in Narburgh Church, so that the
inscription is directly against his face: this must surely be a solitary
instance of burial in a pillar, although there are many other instances of
burial in an upright position. Thomas Cooke, who was a Governor of the
Bank of England, from 1737 to 1739, and who had formerly been a merchant
residing in Constantinople, died at Stoke Newington, 12th August, 1752,
and by his directions his body was carried to Morden College, Blackheath,
of which he was a trustee, it was taken out of the coffin, and buried in a
winding sheet upright in the ground, according to the Eastern custom.[8]
Ben Jonson was buried at Westminster in an upright position: possibly this
may have been on account of the large fee demanded for a full-sized grave.
It was for a long time supposed that the story was invented to account for
the smallness of the gravestone, but on the grave being opened some years
since, the dramatist's remains were discovered in the attitude indicated
by tradition. The following quotation from Hearne's "Collection of
Antiquarian Discourses," Vol. I., p. 212, shows that the upright position
of burial was anciently adopted in the case of captains in the army:
"For them above the grounde buryed, I have by tradition heard, that
when anye notable Captayne dyed in battle or campe, the souldyers used
to take his bodye and to sette him on his feet uprighte, and put his
launce or pike into his hand, and then his fellowe souldyers did
travell and everye man bringe so much earthe, and laye about him as
should cover him, and mount up to cover the top of his pike."
At Messina there is a church attached to one of the monasteries--St.
Jacomo--in which several monks are buried in a sitting posture, and may be
seen through a grating in a vault below the church.
From the earliest ages to within about one hundred years ago, it appears
to have been customary to bury either with or without a coffin. The
following is an extract from a Terrier of lands, fees, etc., belonging to
Caistor Vicarage, Lincolnshire, dated 1717: "For every grave in the
churchyard and without coffin, four pence, if with coffin, one shilling."
Amongst the Vestry Minutes of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, dated 5th March,
1564: "Item, that none shall be buryd within the Church, unless the dead
corpse be coffined in wood." The late John Bernard Palmer, first Abbot of
the Cistercians in England since the Reformation, was buried in the
Chapter House, at Loughborough, without a coffin. In the days when burial
without a coffin was general, the body was shrouded, tied at the head and
feet, and carried to the grave in a closed bier, which was generally
provided by the parish for this purpose.
A singular custom was wont to prevail at Gainsborough, of distributing
penny loaves on the occasion of a funeral, to whosoever might demand them.
Prior to the Reformation it was a common practice for our ancestors to
direct in their wills that doles of bread and other alms should be given
to the poor at their funerals; by this they performed a double
act--relieving the corporal wants of the poor, and securing their prayers
for the repose of their own souls. In some parts of Yorkshire, and
elsewhere, it is still customary to send to friends immediately after
death a paper bag of biscuits, and a card with the name, etc., of the
deceased; this would not appear to be connected with a dole to purchase
prayers, and may possibly find an origin in, and be the last remains of,
the ancient ceremonial of the pagan burial feasts. At Amersden, in
Oxfordshire, it was the custom at the burial of every corpse for a cake
and flagon of ale to be given to the minister in the church porch
immediately after the funeral.
The curious and repulsive practice of sin eating is now obsolete. Aubrey,
in "Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme," thus refers to it:--
"In the County of Hereford was an old custome at funeralls to have
poor people who were to take upon them the sinnes of the party
deceased. The manner was that when the corps was brought out of the
house and layd on the Biere, a Loafe of Bread was brought out, and
delivered to the Sinne eater over the corps, so also a Mazer-bowle of
Maple full of beer, w{ch} he was to drinke up, and six pence in money,
in consideration whereof he took upon him all the sinnes of the
Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they were dead."
The origin of this strange custom was most likely connected in some way
with the ceremony of the Scape Goat under the old Law. (Leviticus, cap.
xvi., v. 21).
Tradition authorises the expectation that our Lord will appear in the
east; therefore all the faithful dead are buried with their feet towards
the east to meet Him. Hence in Wales the east wind is called "The wind of
the dead men's feet." The eastern portion of a churchyard is always
looked on as the most honoured--next the south--then the west, and last of
all the north, from the belief that in this order the dead will rise. A
curious instance of this belief is furnished by an epitaph on a tombstone,
dated 1807, on the north side of Epworth Churchyard, Lincolnshire, the
last two lines of which run as follow:--
"And that I might longer undisturbed abide
I choosed to be laid on this Northern side."
Felons, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried on the north
side of the church.
In Suffolk most of the churches have both a north and south door, and,
where old customs are observed, the body is brought in at the south door,
put down at the west end of the aisle, and carried out by the north door.
In Lincolnshire the north is generally reserved entirely for funerals, the
south and west doors being reserved for christenings and weddings.
The burning of lights and torches at funerals has always been a mark of
honour to the dead, and to have a great number was a special mark of
honour to the deceased. Testators frequently made provision in their wills
for the burning of torches, both as to the number to be used, and their
price; these torches were generally provided by the churchwardens, and
consequently they were an article of profit to the church. Churchwardens'
accounts furnish numerous instances of the charge to the friends of the
deceased according to the consumption of wax.
The following extract from the will of John Woodford, of Barsby, in the
parish of Ashby Folville, Leicestershire, dated 13th February, 1543,
instances the custom of making minute testamentary arrangements for
burial:--
"And my bodie to be burryed within the parishe Churche of our Ladie in
Ashbie-folwell Aforesaid as neare to the grave or Tombe of my cozin
John Woodforde as maye be convenyentlie thought, or els in the crosse
oyle before the pulpitt. Also I bequeath to our Mother Church of
Lyncolne iiij{d.} Also to the Highe Altar xij{d.} Also I will that
there be provided of Waxe xiij Tapers of the price of ij{d.} a peece.
Also I will that fyve poor men of the same parishe be chosen to beare
fyve Torches about my hearse Att my burryall. And they doing shall
have for their labour ij{d.} peece. Also I bequeath to the same Church
those fyve Torches And they to be burned att principall Feasts and
other Feasts as shall be convenyent. Also I will that every priest
that cometh to my Burriall to have iiij{d.} and their dynner. And if
there be no dynner, Then every priest for to have viij{d.} a peece.
And the same priests of their charritie for to say dirge and Masse
Att my burriall or els Att home within their parish for my soule and
for all my good Frends soules and for all xyen soules. Also I will
that they shall ring att my Burriall and to have for their labour
ij{d.} a peece."
The Arvel Dinner appears to be an ancient custom. This was properly a
solemn festival on the day of interment, and when the corpse was exposed
to view. The relations and friends were invited to attend so that, having
inspected the body, they might avouch that the death was a natural one,
and thus exculpate the heir and all others entitled to the deceased's
possessions from accusations of having used violence.
In Scotland the custom still prevails of taking down the window blinds at
the death, and hanging white sheets across the windows. The custom also
prevails in the north of England, and in many families a special sheet
reserved for the death chamber is kept for the purpose, and often used
from generation to generation.
In many parts of Scotland, too, it is still customary for the nearest
relatives of the deceased to lower the body into the grave, and wait by
the side until the grave is filled up.
In country districts in Wales a custom still exists of setting up a chest
in the middle of the chancel at the time of a funeral, and before leaving
the church the mourners all file round and put their offerings in; this is
really intended for the clergyman's fee, but if the people are poor he
often returns part of it (to a widow, for instance).
There is at least one instance that it was customary for the parish to
provide an umbrella for the use of the clergyman on public occasions, more
especially at funerals. The parish accounts at St. John's, Chester,
contain the following entries:--
1729 Paid Mr. George Marsh for an
Umbrell for the parish use 00 10 6{0.}
1786 Paid for an Umbrell for Mr.
Richardson to read the Burial service under 1 6 0{0.}
It was a general belief that if a corpse was carried over fields on the
way to burial, it established a public right of way for ever, hence it
became customary, when, for convenience, or in some cases out of
necessity, a corpse was taken across fields, or over any private ground,
for the undertaker to stick a number of pins in each gate as the
procession went through. The pins were accepted by the owner of the land
as a payment for the privilege of the corpse being carried through, and
acted as an acknowledgment that the right of way was granted only for the
particular occasion.
There is an ancient custom amongst the Russians to give the deceased two
written documents placed in his coffin, containing (1) The confession of
his sins: (2) The absolution given by the priest.
One of the ancient customs connected with Swedish funerals was to place a
small looking-glass in the coffin of an unmarried female, so that when the
last trump sounds she might be able to arrange her tresses. It was the
practice for Scandinavian maidens to wear their hair flowing loosely,
while the matrons wore it bound about the head, and generally covered with
some form of cap, hence the unmarried woman was imagined as wakening at
the judgment day with more untidy locks than her wedded sisters, and more
in need of a glass.
It was customary, in carrying a corpse to burial, to rest the bier at any
cross which might be in the way, whilst prayer was offered up; and,
indeed, it was very general to erect a cross at any spot where the bier of
a celebrated person had been rested on its way to interment.
In the fifteenth century a most revolting custom originated of
representing on tombs a skeleton, or worse still, a corpse in a state of
corruption; this was followed by the more becoming custom of representing
the effigies of corpses enveloped in shrouds tied at the head and feet.
At Skipton it was an invariable practice to bury at midnight a woman who
had died at the birth of her first child; the coffin was carried under a
white sheet, the corners of which were held by four women. A custom
prevailed in Lancashire when a mother died within a month of the birth of
her child, of taking the baby to the funeral, and holding it over the
grave as though to look in.
Towards the end of the fourteenth century arose the practice of carrying a
waxen effigy of the deceased either on or before the coffin in the funeral
procession. The earliest instance of this practice is in the case of King
Henry V., whose effigy formed the first of those figures which are still
preserved in Westminster Abbey. This custom was only observed in the case
of royalty, and persons of high position; the expense of a waxen
representation of the deceased would prevent poor people from following
it. The wax effigy of Oliver Cromwell lay in state while the body itself
was being embalmed, so that most probably the actual corpse was never
exposed to public view. The practice appears to have been discontinued
shortly after the Restoration.
A custom prevailed and continued even down to recent years of making
funeral garlands on the death of young unmarried women of unblemished
character. These garlands were made sometimes of metal, and sometimes of
natural flowers or evergreens, and commonly having a white glove in the
centre, on which was inscribed the name, or initials, and age of the
deceased. This garland was laid on or carried before the coffin during its
passage to the grave, and afterwards frequently hung up in the church,
generally being suspended from the roof. It was usual in the primitive
church to place crowns of flowers on the heads of deceased virgins.
There was an order in the Church of England up to the year 1552, that if a
child died within a month of baptism he should be buried in his chrisom in
lieu of a shroud. The chrisom was a white baptismal robe with which, in
mediaeval times, a child, when christened, was enveloped. A sixteenth
century brass in Chesham Bois Church, in Buckinghamshire, represents
Benedict Lee, chrisom child, in his chrisom cloth. The inscription
underneath the figure stands thus:--
Of Rog{r} Lee gentilma, here lyeth the son Benedict Lee
Crysom who{s} soule ihu pdo.
Formerly it was a general custom to erect crosses at the junction of four
cross roads, on a place _self-consecrated_ according to the piety of the
age; suicides, and notorious bad characters, were frequently buried near
to these, not with the notion of indignity, but in a spirit of charity,
that, being excluded from holy rites, they, by being buried at cross
roads, might be in places next in sanctity to ground actually consecrated.
The practice of placing a pewter plate containing a little salt on a
corpse may possibly have originated in salt being considered an emblem of
eternity. In Scotland the custom has generally been to place both salt and
earth separate, and unmixed--the earth being an emblem of the corruptible
body, and the salt an emblem of the immortal spirit. Salt has also been
used to preserve a corpse. The body of Henry I., who died in Normandy, was
cut and gashed, sprinkled with salt, wrapped in a bull's hide, and brought
to Reading Abbey to be buried.
Testators frequently bequeathed palls by their wills for the general use
of the parish; the following is an extract from the will of William
Parkyns of Brympton, Berkshire, who died in 1558:--"Item, I will that mine
executours buye one new pall, price 13s. 4d., the which I give unto the
parish churche at Brympton to be laide uppon any personne, or personnes,
that shall die within the said parishe and be brought to the churche."
In several rural districts in England, especially in the north, when a
funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of box is placed at the door
of the house where the corpse lies, and each person who attends the
funeral takes a sprig of box as he enters the house, carries it in the
funeral procession, and finally throws it into the grave of the deceased.
At Exford, near Minehead, it was formerly the custom for burials always to
take place on a Sunday when possible, the burial service being dovetailed
into the usual afternoon service. The corpse being brought into the
church, was placed in front of the reading desk, and remained there during
the service: the funeral psalms were read instead of the psalms for the
day, and the funeral lesson instead of the second lesson. The burial
service was concluded after the sermon, and the entire congregation would
generally remain to the end. The custom appears to have fallen into disuse
about thirty years ago.
Funeral cake or biscuit appears to be general in all parts. In Whitby, a
round, flat, and rather sweet, sort of cake biscuit is baked expressly for
use at funerals, and made to order by more than one baker in the town; it
is white, slightly sprinkled with sugar, and of a fine even texture
within. In Lincolnshire sponge finger biscuits are used. In Cumberland a
custom prevailed of giving to each person who attended the funeral a small
piece of rich cake, carefully wrapped up in white paper and sealed. This
used to be carried round immediately before the "lifting of the corpse."
Each visitor selected one of the sealed packets and carried it home
unopened.
Funeral Bidders are most probably derived from the Romans, who used to
send a public crier about inviting people to the solemnization of a
funeral. In the northern countries each village had its regular "Bidder,"
who when "bidding" to the funeral generally knocked on the door with a
key. In towns the crier frequently did the "bidding," having first called
the attention of the people by his bell.
Concerning the Churchyard.
BY JOHN NICHOLSON.
In the life of St. Willebald[9] we are told "that it was an ancient custom
of the Saxon nation on the estates of some of their nobles and great men,
to erect, not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use
of daily prayer." It is the exception rather than the rule, for Domesday
Book to mention a church in connection with a village, and it is possible
that our Kirkbys, and place names having Kirk as a prefix, acquired that
addition when the church was built in the churchyard ready for it--a
churchyard already consecrated and hallowed by years of divine service and
sacred memories.